Texting peer released from prison

The Court of Appeal has released a Labour peer who was jailed for 12 weeks for sending and receiving text messages while driving minutes before he was involved in a fatal motorway crash.

Lord Ahmed, 51, was charged with dangerous driving after using his mobile phone shortly before hitting a stationary car in the fast lane of the M1, killing Martyn Gombar, 28, from Leigh, Greater Manchester.

Ahmed pleaded guilty to the charge and was handed a 12-week jail term by sentencing judge Mr Justice Wilkie last month.

At the time Wilkie made it clear that Ahmed’s text messaging had finished two minutes before the accident took place and was not connected to the crash, which happened on Christmas Day 2007.

The Court of Appeal today reduced Ahmed’s sentence to 12 weeks suspended for 12 months due to “exceptional” circumstances surrounding the case.

It’s understood that Ahmed could be released from Doncaster Prison as early as tomorrow following the Court of Appeal’s ruling.